Living More Mindfully with Digital Technology with Claudia L’Amoreaux

After an encounter with a 22-month-old toddler using his cell phone to navigate between Safari’s browser and a children’s video on YouTube, L’Amoreaux felt it was worthwhile to have some deep dialogues around the introduction of young children to such powerful and seductive technology. She cites an REI report called “The Path Ahead” that references research indicating that 95% of Americans are spending most of their days indoors. It states the we are becoming an “indoor species.” In this dialogue we also explore how digital searches do not provide the same information to all users. Unbeknown to most users, information is constantly being filtered. L’Amoreaux shares specific direction regarding conversations that would help us be better informed about the technology we’re using. She points out that “we find ourselves in a place of being connected 24/7 and that is relatively new . . . it’s requiring of us another level of awareness and mindfulness around thinking about how we want to navigate this technology. I think we can make small changes that can make huge qualitative differences.” L’Amoreaux is a proponent of asking better questions and having deep dialogue within our families. She advises us to “think about having the conversation around getting more and more clear about what is it that we care about. You’re not going to pin it down. It may be continually changing. But to have that [kind of conversation] is a core part of making those values visible. [It can be] almost like a family mission statement . . . I think that making those values clear as individuals and as a family is really going to help us when the 80 thousand, 550 thousand, ten million distractions come our way. It helps us to keep on course. I’m not saying you never go off on little side trips; serendipity is a beautiful thing . . . A lot is being asked of us today and it’s easy to spend 5 hours scrolling on Facebook and I doubt if that’s really going to lead to the kind of feeling that we want to be feeling”.